PORT ISABEL — UTRGV officially broke ground Tuesday on what will be an ‘anchorpoint’ facility for South Texas marine and ecological research.
The $21.5 million Marine Ecosystems Research Facility (MERF) will replace portable buildings currently being used for research in the area by students and faculty, UTRGV Senior Vice President Can Saygin said.
The new construction will be a 14,500-square-foot space with seven laboratories.
UTRGV’s School of Earth, Environmental and Marine Sciences, currently operates out of five portable research buildings.
The portables needed more maintenance and did not reflect what UTRGV stands for today, he said, adding that the school wants to give researchers advanced facilities.
It took about two years to secure funding and to get to the design phase of the project, he continued.
“When you think about construction this close to the water, it’s very expensive,” Saygin said.
UTRGV’s original proposed budget for the facility was $14 million, but the university was able to secure other funding to increase the budget to $21.5 million.
The facility will be used by students in undergraduate and graduate levels. They are in the works of developing a PhD program as well.
“We want to use this place as a community engagement center spot,” added Saygin, who says he wants K-12 students visiting to learn about marine ecosystems and environmental resilience.
“Many of you come fishing down here, maybe you come to enjoy the beach,” said UTRGV President Guy Bailey. “One of the things that MERF does and will help us do is preserve that environment.”
He noted UTRGV’s growth as a research university as it pushes to become an R1 university — one with high levels of research — by July of next year. From Brownsville’s human genetics facility to cancer research in McAllen, UTRGV plans to keep pushing its expansion.
“We’re gonna be more and more like the (University of California) system,” said University of Texas System Regent Dr. Nolan Perez.
He said that UTSA and UTRGV will be the next big flagship schools in Texas after UT Austin.
UTRGV currently has almost 36,000 students, 10,000 more than UT El Paso, Perez noted.
Aquatic Ecologist and professor Hudson DeYoe says he’s looking forward to working in the new facility. He studies how things affect seagrass, which is crucial to keeping the water clean and keeping sediment where it is supposed to be — meaning the bay is less muddy.
He’s looking forward to having a water pump that will pull sea water into the facility. Instead of carrying a bucket of seawater, researchers will be able to open a faucet to do experiments on corals, fish, seagrass and more.
DeYoe says they will continue to use the Isla Blanca Coastal Studies Laboratory for smaller boats that have been used since the 1970s. The new facility, which was previously used for shrimp boat repairs, will hopefully be used for larger boats to dock, says DeYoe.
DeYoe also said that the area of the new MERF facility is one of the best examples of the mangrove habitat where oysters and seagrass are seen locally.
“What happens here matters to us, and what happens to us, we think matters to the Rio Grande Valley,” Bailey said.
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